The Afterwards
by Alatar Maia
Summary: Gabriel died. Michael and Lucifer were in the Cage. Raphael died. So...now what? A reflection on archangels, siblings, and what happens afterwards.


**So**

**I don't really know what I was doing with this? I just sort of got an idea in my head and went with it. No real plan, this just sort of...wrote itself as I went along.  
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**Archangel's pronouns are based on the vessel they had most recently prior to...well, you can guess what happened.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.**

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><p>Gabriel coughed, throat feeling raw, but even that feeling dissipated as he looked up, partially bent over from his awkward landing.<p>

Why wasn't he dead?

The white surroundings offered no hints or clues as to his location, much less what had happened. Gabriel stood up and surveyed them more closely, but they stayed stubbornly blank and white.

"Well, isn't this fabulous."

He may not have been dead, but this didn't look a whole lot better.

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><p>Gabriel didn't know how much time he spent in the plain, white place before something else came along.<p>

'Something' being Michael and Lucifer.

Gabriel scrambled backwards, unsheathing his angel blade in a panic as his two brothers whipped around with fiery, wounded Graces and near-identical expressions of anger and confusion.

"Gabriel?" Michael stopped short as he saw Gabriel's extended blade.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Gabriel demanded, his gaze flickering between the two archangels as if he couldn't decide which one was a bigger threat.

"How did _you _get here?"

"Fuck off, Lucifer."

"Gabriel-"

"You fuck off too!"

Michael stepped back in surprise, and then glared at Lucifer. "What did you do to him?"

"_Me? _Why do you automatically assume _I've _done something?"

"Because it's always you!"

"Oh, and it is _so _like you to blame everyone else for anything you can-"

"_Shut up!" _Gabriel surprised even himself when he started yelling. "Just shut up, alright! I'm pretty sure I'm fucking dead and I don't need you two ruining this _already shitty _afterlife!" He gestured angrily at their surroundings, blade flashing in light that came from no apparent direction and all of them. Spinning on his heel with a furious hand gesture that he'd learned fairly early on, Gabriel stalked in the opposite direction of his brothers.

"Where are you going?"

"Leaving! As long as it's not in the same direction as _you _two!"

Michael's voice faded slightly. "Look at this! He won't even - do you see what your Fall did?"

"And whose fault is _that?" _Gabriel scowled as the sounds of their bickering made themselves even more apparent and kept walking.

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><p>It seemed like another half of an eternity before another 'something' showed up.<p>

"If you're looking for Michael and Lucifer, they're that way." Gabriel jerked a thumb over his shoulder without bothering to look at Raphael, and stayed seated on the floor, his angel blade in his lap. "Shouldn't be too far." However much he'd walked, Gabriel had been forced to stay within hearing distance of the bickering oldest two. It was much farther than it might have been for a human, but still not far enough.

"Gabriel?" Raphael sounded shocked. Her voice was much closer when she spoke again. "How are you-"

"Take a look around and ask me that again."

Raphael was silent, and then Gabriel stiffened as his sibling sat down next to him, wings unfurling to sag against the floor in a defeated posture.

"They're still fighting." It wasn't a question.

"Yep." Gabriel didn't bother to put any special inflection on the word - just let it fall out of his mouth. "'Course they are."

Raphael sighed. "It wasn't always like this."

"I know." Either being dead had removed any inhibitions Gabriel had about talking about Before, or it was Raphael, or maybe he just didn't care enough anymore.

"Where did we all go wrong?"

"Well, I think the Apocalypse was a big turning point."

"I think it was a little before that, Gabriel."

The sound of his name from her jolted Gabriel - he hadn't been called that in so long he'd almost forgotten, and a few times before he'd died hadn't been enough to get used to it. "Yeah. I'd say when Dad left."

"...Do you think this was a test?"

"For us?" Gabriel wouldn't put it past his Father. "Maybe."

"Have we failed?"

"I'd say big time."

Raphael made a noise similar to a laugh, and drew herself into a smaller form, folding up like a human clutching their legs to their body. "Humans were always his favorite...and we tried to destroy them. Except you."

Gabriel thought back on Loki and the Trickster. "I think I probably did enough destroying on my own."

Raphael didn't reply, but her wings curved slightly so that they were almost propped around Gabriel. Gabriel let her.

"What happens now?" She asked eventually.

"Going by what's happened so far? Nothing."

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><p>Michael and Lucifer didn't remain ignorant to the newest arrival for long.<p>

Gabriel didn't know when their arguing had tapered off but he suddenly realized that they were standing much closer than they had previously, watching him and Raphael.

"Michael." Raphael was respectful as ever to the Prince of Heaven. Her eyes lingered on Lucifer, and she didn't greet him.

"Raphael." Michael sounded almost resigned. "So there are...no more archangels."

"Not unless Dad created some more on the sly," Gabriel muttered to himself, but his siblings overheard anyway.

"Really, Gabriel?" Lucifer's voice wasn't as sharp as it normally was. "Is now the time?"

"Well, we're not going to get any other time to do it." Gabriel's hand had moved minutely towards the blade which was still in his lap, but no one else commented on it. Raphael's eyes flickered between Gabriel and Lucifer, but she must have already guessed what had happened, because she didn't say anything.

"Can we not fight?"

Raphael raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And you and Lucifer were...?"

Gabriel looked at her in surprise, because he'd never seen her be so bold to Michael.

"We have...worked it out." Lucifer looked uncomfortable as he said it, but he and Michael were standing right there, not looking at each other but not arguing either. It was a welcome relief.

Michael's wings rustled, as if he were having trouble standing still. "I figure..." The words sounded reluctant to leave. "If we're all going to be stuck here together...wherever here is...we might as well not fight."

Gabriel snorted. "Wish that message would've gotten across a few years earlier."

Something like regret flashed across Michael's face. There was a complete silence for several moments, and the he moved forward to sit at Gabriel's other side.

Surprise kept Gabriel from moving away. That, and the movement would have taken him closer to Raphael, who may have been his sister but he didn't get along _that _well with any of them, not anymore.

Lucifer moved forward too and it was all four of them in a line then, wings tight to some backs and spread out from others, and against the never-ending whiteness it was practically a riot of color.

Something like this hadn't happened in millenia.

Gabriel couldn't tell if he liked it anymore.

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><p>The presence expanded through the space they occupied in a heartbeat and all four of them stiffened and leaped to their feet in an instant, turning around and trying to figure out where it was coming from before Michael froze.<p>

"Father," He said weakly.

Gabriel's angel blade had clattered to what served as a floor when he jumped up but he made no move to go to pick it up, staring at his Father with wide, almost incredulous eyes.

_My children._

Lucifer stumbled and dropped to his knees, and honestly Gabriel was on the verge of doing the same thing.

_How you have grown._

That was one way to put it. Gabriel laughed quietly - and wetly - to himself.

_You have each changed._

"Father-" Michael broke off before he could get any further. "Where-?"

_I wish I had been here._

But He wasn't. Gabriel knew his Father knew what he was thinking and thought very hard that he wished he hadn't fucking died.

_So much violence. _His Father's voice was filled with so much sadness in those three words that it almost knocked Gabriel over under the weight of it, the presence itself changing to become heavier, as if it were soaked in water. _Why?_

"But-" Raphael spoke next. "Father, it was your wish - to bring Paradise-"

_That was merely one possibility._

What?

_I wished to see what you would choose. _God's attention appeared to focus on Michael. _Michael, my eldest...you chose to strike down Samael as I said._

"Lucifer." Lucifer's voice was a whisper.

_You will always be Samael to me._

"Father - you said-" Michael sounded lost, sinking to his knees as well. "You ordered me to strike down Lucifer."

_I told you what you could do. It was you who chose to do it._

"But I could not - I could not have rebelled!"

_It would not have been rebellion. _His voice became softer. _My children, my eldest four...you always had a choice. I knew what Samael would do, as I knew what all of you would do. I chose to let you do what you wished, but I see now that you did not realize it was so._

Gabriel didn't know when he and Raphael had joined their brothers on their knees, but shock might have had something to do with it.

"Why?" He asked, and all three of the other archangels turned to him in alarm.

_Gabriel. _The name from Him was a comfort, and Gabriel almost let himself get lost in it. _I never wanted anyone to be limited. I wanted a world that could live on its own. _His voice took on a calm, warm tone. _Humanity, in that respect, was one of my __accomplishments._

Revelation was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but Gabriel was feeling more lost and confused than happy.

_Samael. _Their Father turned to Lucifer, who stiffened. _Will you come back?_

"Come back?" Lucifer sounded as surprised as Gabriel - and no doubt Raphael and Michael - felt. "But - I rebelled. You cast me out."

_You were always forgiven, Samael. You could always return.  
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"What if I don't want to?" _That _made Gabriel whip around and stare at Lucifer, who was staring up at their Father with an unreadable expression.

_Then you do not have to._

"But everything I've done-"

Michael interrupted this time. "I don't think it's any worse than the transgressions I have made."

Michael, defending Lucifer? They must have been in here far longer than Gabriel had thought.

_None of you will be cast away or kept out because of what you have done._ God's voice - since that was the closest word that could be used to describe it - was calm, as it had been the entire time. _You understand your own reasons and why they may have been wring or right - you are all forgiven._

"Just like that?" Raphael spoke for the second time, her voice quiet.

_Yes._

Gabriel didn't need to look at his siblings to gauge their feelings - he was so close to all of them that it was impossible not to notice.

Michael took a deep breath. "What happens now?"

_Do you all wish to return?_

Michael's reply was immediate. "Yes."

Lucifer hesitated, then nodded, looking down at his knees.

Raphael looked at Michael, looked at Lucifer, and then shook her head and looked resolutely forward. "Yes."

Gabriel could feel their attention on him, all wondering what his answer would be.

"What happens if I say yes?"

_You return. _The first time in his Father only knew how many millenia that Gabriel got a straight and immediate answer from his Father about anything, and it was two words.

"Return where?"

Amusement vibrated through the white space. _Where do you think?_

Gabriel thought.

"Yes."

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><p><strong>...Review?<strong>


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